Madam Gifty Klenam, former Chief Executive of the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) and former Member of Parliament for Lower-West Akim has joined the race for parliament as an independent candidate to wrest the seat.

She first contested the Lower-West Akim seat on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in 2008 and was re-elected in 2012 but lost her third bid in the party's primaries to Mr. Eyiah Kyei-Bafuour, who represented the NPP in parliament in 2016.

She became the first female MP for the area and the only MP to have been elected for two consecutive terms in the constituency's history.

Speaking with the Ghana News Agency Gender Desk on her decision to contest for parliament as an independent member, Ms. Klenam noted that she had unfinished business and an agenda to continue where she left off to raise the standard of the area.

She mentioned several infrastructure developments in education, health, and commerce as some of her achievements during her eight-year term as MP and expressed the hope that the people would endorse her to continue her good performance.

Ms. Klenam, with her wealth of experience as an entrepreneur and exporter for over 20 years and her eight years as a member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Trade, Industry, and Tourism, was appointed as the CEO of the Ghana Investments Promotion Authority.

In the 2008 general elections, Ms. Klenam polled 21,912 votes (55.5 percent) and 26,663 votes (57.50 percent) in the 2012 elections to retain the seat for the NPP as well as continue the party's dominance over the years.

The Lower-West Akim NPP has dominated both presidential and parliamentary elections since 1996, when the seat was first occupied by the NDC candidate Mr. Akuamoah Ofosu Boateng, followed by Mr. Peter Kwaw, NPP, in the year 2000. Mr. James Appietu-Ankrah, a former insurance broker, won the seat for the NPP in 2004.

Ms. Gifty Klenam, NPP, won in 2008 and 2012, Mr. Eyiah Kyei-Bafuour, NPP, in 2016, and Mr. Charles Acheampong in 2020, who is also the current candidate for the NPP in the 2024 elections.